*hears about the seige of Aquillea, where Atilla noticed some nesting storks leaving and took it as an omen to attack*
"Jeez, just how much of Roman history is down to people making important decisions based on 'What I saw birds do today'.."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augury
"..Ah."
An awful lot of bizarre stories make much more sense now that I have a rather vital nugget of cultural context.
-T